1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a packaging container, in particular for providing a box with a binding comprising a thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means, such as a string, a band or the like, and for decorating the packaging container with a bow. The invention also relates to the technical means for implementing such a method.
2. Discussion
In addition to the function of protecting the packaged goods from losses in quality and of simplifying storage and transportation, packaging also makes possible a mass-produced get-up of the packaged product and provides possible ways of designing it for advertising purposes. One of these possible ways is not just to provide a packaging container with a binding, but also to decorate it with a bow. Such attractive packaging is important, in particular, for goods which are often intended as a gift, such as chocolate or chocolates. The latter are usually packaged in boxes which may be of different configurations but, in the simplest and most common cases, are of cuboidal design. Where foodstuffs or (semi-) luxury goods are concerned, metallic auxiliary means, such as staples or the like, must not be used for the packaging.
While, in order to make bindings for, for example, cuboidal packaging containers, automatic and semiautomatic binding machines, by means of which bands, wires, cords, etc. with lead seals, staples, twisting, knots and/or adhesive bonding are provided as closures, are known, the operation of tying a bow is more difficult to automate. The ends of a thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means, such as a string, a band or the like, have to be formed into loops, and intertwined in a certain way, in order to decorate a packaging container with a bow. In this case, it is essential, for attractive packaging, for the bow to be perfectly formed. The book xe2x80x9cGeschenke liebevoll verpackenxe2x80x9d [Gifts lovingly packed], Remseck, Stuttgart, 1997 gives, for example on pages 92-115, instructions which comprise individual working steps and are intended for different ways of positioning bands and for tying bows. This way of producing the packaging usually takes placexe2x80x94even if large numbers of packaging units are manufacturedxe2x80x94manually and involves a considerable amount of work. For this purpose, the thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means is, for example at the factory, cut to size from materials supplied by the meter, bound and tied into bows. For a high production throughput, a very large number of workers have to be involved with this work.
The object of the present invention is thus, while maintaining a high quality for the packaging container produced, to make a method of the type mentioned in the introduction more flexible in order thus, during manufacture, to achieve a cost advantage and/or to make it possible for the method to be partially automated. A further object of the invention is to provide the technical means for implementing such a method.
This object is achieved by a production method of the type mentioned in the introduction in the case of which first of all a carrier is prefabricated with the auxiliary packaging means, and then the auxiliary packaging means is transferred from the carrier to the packaging container. Also specified in order to achieve the object are a carrier according to the invention, a prefabricating arrangement according to the invention and a prefabricated unit according to the invention.
The technical solution according to the invention is based on the idea of achieving the sought-after flexibility by dividing up the production operation into individual sub-operations which can be carried out separately from one another in terms of space and time. In this case, the last sub-operation, the transfer of the binding with the bow from the carrier to the packaging container, can be automated more easily than the production process overall.
This produces the prefabricated unit according to the invention which is intended for the packaging container and comprises the carrier and the thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means, it being the case that the latter, following the first production sub-operation, forming a binding and provided with a bow, is fastened on the carrier. Such a prefabricated unit can easily be transported and stored in a magazine for further processing at a later date.
In the case of the method according to the invention, an elastically extendible thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means can be used and, in order to transfer this auxiliary packaging means from the carrier to the packaging container, the carrier with the binding, which is formed by the prefabricating operation, is provided with the bow and comprises the thread-like or strip-like auxiliary packaging means, can be positioned on the top side or underside of the packaging container, with the packaging container being guided at least partially between the binding and the carrier, then the binding is slipped off from the carrier and, in its entirety, slipped over the packaging container and, finally, the carrier is removed from the binding and the packaging container.
In this case, the carrier can be prefabricated either just using the carrier or with the aid of an additional production arrangement according to the invention. Using a production arrangement brings about further material-saving advantages, in particular when a disposable carrier is used.
In order to implement the method according to the invention, a carrier which is constructed from, in particular, a flexible material and has a planar basic shape adapted to the packaging container is preferably suitable, it being the case that a height dimension of the carrier is smaller than a height dimension of the packaging container and, should a prefabricating arrangement be used, is preferably also smaller than a height dimension of the same. The height dimension of the carrier may preferably just be a fraction of the height dimension of the packaging container. At least one planar basic dimension of the carrier, such as length or width, should be obtained in each case, for example, from a corresponding planar basic dimension, such as length or width, of the packaging container plus at least in each case the height dimension of the packaging container.
In order to implement the method according to the invention, it is advantageously possible to use a prefabricating arrangement which is, in particular, constructed from a rigid material and has a planar basic shape adapted to the packaging container, it being the case that a height dimension of the prefabricating arrangement is smaller than a height dimension of the packaging container, and the planar basic dimensions, such as length and width, are obtained in each case, for example, from a corresponding planar basic dimension, such as length and width, of the packaging container plus at least in each case the height dimension of the packaging container. However, it is possible for the height dimension of the prefabricating arrangement to be greater than the height dimension of the carrier.
It is preferably possible to use such a carrier and such a prefabricating arrangement which, in their respective planar configuration, are congruent with one another in a sub-region.
In order to implement the method according to the invention, it is also possible to use a fabricating arrangement according to the invention which has a retaining arrangement for a packaging container and for a prefabricated unit and also has a plurality of movable grippers for gripping the binding.